The extracting and sorting desk of the present invention is involved in the general field of devices for opening and extracting the contents of mail. Over the past several years, the quantity of mail being handled by companies such as credit card companies, oil companies and the like has been steadily increasing and has reached a point where the mere task of opening and removing the contents of the mail presents a very large burden.
In companies such as credit card companies, mailrooms, which simply open the mail and sort the mail, employ literally hundreds of people. In situations such as these, there is an extremely urgent need for equipment which will reduce the time and expense in processing this mail.
Various types of equipment are available today for use in mailroom devices speed up the process and reduce the costs. One type of equipment available is a complete processing apparatus which will take unopened mail and completely open the envelope on three sides and present the envelope and contents thereof to the operators on a conveyor. Apparatus of this type works well and has proved a valuable asset in the mailrooms. Nevertheless, this type of apparatus is extremely large and expensive and is limited in use to extremely large volume mail users.
Other equipment which is available for aid in the mailrooms are deviced which will slit or open only one edge of the envelope. One such device in common use is the well known Pitney Bowes slitter. However, devices like this, while inexpensive and quick in severing the one edge of the envelope, still leave the contents within the envelope and require the mailroom employees to go through the phisical task of pulling apart the envelope and removing the contents of the envelope.
At first impression, it would appear that the relatively minor time involved in a mailroom employee pulling open an envelope which has previously been opened on one edge would be insignificant in the overall picture. However, studies reveal that this time is, in fact, relatively significant. The operator must physically pick up the envelope, work to open the envelope and then remove the contents and thereafter, dispose of the envelope itself. Then, the operator will proceed to sort the contents of the envelope. The actual act of picking up the envelope, opening it and discarding the envelope does represent a significant portion of the total time involved in situations where the sort itself is relatively simple, i.e. where the envelope contains only a check and bill stub.
A further problem in the manual opening and removal of mail is the problem of missed contents. Operators, in their efforts to work quickly, will often leave contents in the envelope.
What is needed in the industry is an intermediate machine which will take mail which has been previously opened and will reduce the time on the part of the operator in physically handling the mail and pulling apart the sides of the envelope prior to removing the contents. Additionally, means are required to detect the presence of contents of the envelopes which were not removed by the operator.
Another problem which is encountered in the mail opening rooms is the actual lack of organization in the work areas of the employees. Only in the larger mail opening systems is there any provision made for desks which have trays and compartments for receipt of the mail during the sorting process. There is a lack in the industry of a system which is inexpensive but which will aid in the organization of the employees work area to facilitate sorting of the mail.